During Evo Morales’ presidency, the newspaper Cambio was under the control of the Ministry of Communication and mainly featured news concerning the government. In November 2019, after Morales’ resignation, President Áñez renamed the newspaper Bolivia. Then, in May 2021, following the Communist Party’s return to power, the newspaper changed its name again, this time to “Ahora El Pueblo” (Now The People). The newspaper covers politics, economics, society, international news, and sports, and features opinion sections.
Media assets
Publishing: Ahora el Pueblo
State Media Matrix Typology: State-Controlled (SC)
Ownership and governance
Ahora El Pueblo, like most state media in Bolivia, depends on the Ministry of the Presidency, headed by the country’s president.
After the change in government in 2020, the newly elected authorities, led by the Socialist Party (MAS), replaced the management of all state media in Bolivia, including Ahora El Pueblo. This indicated that the government began solidifying its state media control.
Source of funding and budget
According to the latest data available for the year 2019, the newspaper had an annual budget BOB 10.2m (US$ 1.5m), all from government funds. In 2021, the newspaper received a larger state subsidy of BOB 11.8m (US$ 1.7m). In 2023, the state subsidy received by Ahora El Pueblo reached BOB 10.95m (US$ 1.55m), a drop, in local currency, from BOB 11.6m (US$ 1.64m) allocated the year before, according to a media report.
Editorial independence
When the newspaper Cambio’s name changed in 2019, its editorial policy also changed from supporting the Morales regime to supporting the newly emerged government.
An informal content analysis of the newspaper carried out for this project in the past found that most of the content in Bolivia today consisted of statements made by former interim President Áñez, favorable stories about the government of the day and critical articles about the previous President. The archives of the Cambio newspaper were all removed from the internet by the government at the time.
The same editorial pattern was noticed after the 2020 elections, which brought the Socialists back to power. The newspaper changed its name again (to Ahora El Pueblo). According to interviews with local journalists and experts conducted in February 2024 and May 2024, it began to support the new government overtly. A new content analysis conducted for this report in March 2024 found again clear pro-government bias in the newspaper’s coverage.
No domestic statute or independent assessment mechanism to validate the independence of Ahora el Pueblo has been identified.
July 2024